Al Mazrouei and Pandya sign the contract.

HAMRIYAH Free Zone Authority (HFZA) in Sharjah, UAE, has announced plans to install continuous and portable ambient air-quality monitoring stations to check the levels of air pollution at all times.

Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, the director of Hamriyah Free Zone Authority (HFZA) and Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (Saif Zone) signed a contract in this regard with BDH Middle East, which was represented by its business development director, Noveel Pandya.

This initiative is in line with the directives of Sharjah’s ruler Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, says Al Mazrouei.

“We are installing this system to assess the extent of pollution, to evaluate our control options and provide data for air quality modelling,” he adds.

According to him, these ambient air quality monitoring networks are designed to address environmental and human health objectives.

“We are committed towards preserving the environment and have established high performance standards for environment, health and safety (EHS) in the free zone as a step towards our objectives,” says Al Mazrouei.

He says BDH has been assigned for the supply and commissioning of Ecotech (Australia) and Airpointer (Austria) brands of ambient air quality monitoring stations as a part of the project which is on par with the international and federal environmental standards.

Al Mazrouei says the free zone was upgrading its systems with the launch of the new ambient air quality monitoring equipment.

“Apart from leading to heightened awareness of the importance of EHS across our operations, the new air quality monitoring system – to be managed by the internal environmental protection department – will also help in identifying and managing risk or breach of norms by companies operating in the free zone,” he concludes.